Cuzzie

@SibobI’ll re phrase slightly. The tension on how the strings feel are just what I like and that is whether I have them in normal tuning or in drop tuning. They do lock and stay in tune nicely when changing. Due to me being a bit dense when changing strings on my 12 string bass I messed up a fundamental string from the D’Addario set, so instead I used the DDTs in combination with the D’Addario octaves. This is a high tension neck as you can imagine.DR’s lapped it up and actually preferred being in drop D and a half step down. Basically they feel great, sound great, last a long time, stay in tune and don’t get floppy like others can in drop tuning. They are expensive at £35-40 a set, but whatever they did to manufacture it, it’s worth it in my book.

DR DDT strings - stands for Drop Down Tension. Brilliant strings, just the tension you will need either normal tuning or drop, and they sound fantastic, I love them

There’s a singing bassist right there!

Let’s not forget an 1983 Fender JV Squier if you want a thinner neck, but some thump, an old Peavey Fury will do a job

Oh and if you do go for a G&L LB100 they come in many custom necks, their dimensions are in the website, but if I remember right a #5 or #7 neck are pretty chunky

Fender Cabronita has a thick neck, but take out that god awful Fidelitron pick up and it’s a decent bass. it would possibly need a rout and a different pickguard to make it look cool. G&L tribute line are good affordable basses with thick baseball necks Sandberg VS4, passive with either Hauessel or Sandberg in house pick ups (not Delano’s) will be a good bet also

And here is an alternate opinion on flats! I was not a fan of the tension on the flats, so I would plump for LaBella flats, the white tapes are awesome, even the black Deep talking bass ones. i can’t Argue with @TJ Spicer too much, he is in the south west of England like me and we are always right down here!

You have a great bass and set up already, so a change of pick ups may be in order, and would be relatively cost neutral if you move your existing ones on

what amp or pedals or preamps do you have? What strings do you use? What Cab do you have? All these can affect what is going on. How vintage are we talking? If we are talking Motown, well the signal was a bit compressed and often it went straight into the mixing desk, but you will get artefact from how it was recorded. Some of the bass lines were recorded in normal tuning faster and slowed down, to give it the appearance t is played a half step down and a little fatter. Live the sound would be from a limitation of what amplifiers and cabs were around at the time, which affect the signal, so for sure nowadays you will have a clearer sound, which is not a bad thing, its technology advancing. It would be interesting to speak to the vintage musicians at the time, as I have a feeling they were searching for more clarity that we have now, and we are trying to retrofit our sound for less like they did then

Please note the lovely @12stringbassist Is the reason I have a Hamer. Thank you my friend

Well I have a Hamer 12 String and love it. I too would love to have a dabble on a cruise bass

@AndyTravis only £3999.80 to go now

@Al Krow true, but this is helping others, not funding the whimsical unicorns you are looking for in the bass world

Maybe we could get 10p from every bass chatter interested and create a fund for you to get one, we may make a pound by the time the day is out

That’s a big old beast, where did you dig that up from?

@Al Krow yepnyou fell into the trap! A wise man once said on this thread that being accurate in relation to bass is far more important than tone.....any ideas?!

@Al Krow isn’t your Yammy a PJ?

@Al Krow do you currently own a P? Not sure you do mate, it’s about the only one of your 58 basses you don’t have

Basically people are always going to find something or a quote that resonates with their opinion and then say, there you go! @Al Krow I take them in order to balance an argument if I said in a different thread to this (this is actually true). I took my 12 string to jam last night with my band, they liked the sound and tone so much, and did notice that they thought we should either modify or write new songs to incorporate it into the mix you would have copy pasted it onto this one?!

This is all now farting about and pontificating on a theme, pedals to maybe get there, most of the audience won’t realise blah blah blah......! If you want Coca Cola, you don’t buy a Pepsi, If you want a glass of red, you don’t say rosé will do as the colour is nearly there, If you want to see your favourite band then no matter how good musicians they are, seeing a tribute act will not be the same, and if you want to do some rude things, watching it on telly is not the same! whats important? Is it neck through or will a well constructed 6 bolt do you? Are you happy with basswood as a tone wood, or must it be something else? What bridge do you like, is a TOM good? If each string cannot have intonation changed individually, does that matter to you? What timers and gear ratio do you like? If it’s not stock is it easily changeable? You galvanise these thoughts on components and then the bass or basses for you reveal themselves. Quite simple really

Esperenza Spalding Pretty sure Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails used to tickle bass a bit. Can we have a notable addition with Barry White? His voice was a bass all of its own!

Sting has to be in there, Glenn Hughes is immense, Chris Kosnik from The Atomic Bitchwax is a monster player and singer, Meshell N’Degecello And my personal favourite dUg Pinnick, he can do little wrong in my eyes

If it’s an 82-83 JV Squier I would go for it, but it’s not my bass!!!! I still say handle it and see, then You’ll know

JV Squier 82-83 are sublime if Fender is your thing (even if it’s not!) I’ve played a couple P’s and loved them, Jazzes are rarer, and as guys here say, their value is relatively constant so I would say if you find a good ‘un at a good price, go for it

Well it appears to have a hunk of metal on the tail piece and a TOM bridge, make of that what you may if it’s your preferred flavour